A pre-paid telephone service is where a subscriber pays for an account with a pre-determined monetary value. Through a network platform, the duration of a call is monitored and the account is debited according to a specified rate.
Traditionally, a pre-paid account may be purchased by a customer at a retail store in the form of a long distance calling card. The customer uses special toll free numbers associated with the calling card to access the pre-paid account. Alternatively, a pre-paid account may be purchased through a customer service representative and associated with a subscriber's telephone. The pre-paid account is triggered by the subscriber making a regular 1+ toll call. Instead of the call being billed to the customer's regular telephone account, the call is debited from the subscriber's pre-paid account.
Using a long distance calling card requires dialing extra digits in order to use the pre-paid service. This is inefficient. While a pre-paid account associated with a subscriber's telephone eliminates the need to dial extra digits, other problems arise. Specifically, because the subscriber's pre-paid account only triggers when dialing a regular 1+ toll call the subscriber is forced to choose between pre-paid or post-paid service and cannot have both concurrently.
Although the 1+ pre-paid service is functional, there is a need for more flexible access to pre-paid service.